MMCRU turned in a dominating performance in its first District home game of the season. The Royals scored on six of their eight possessions on offense while their defense pitched a shutout to hand Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn a 44-0 loss September 13 at Marcus. HMS saw its season record dip to 1-3.
The result allowed MMCRU to tie the Hawks at 1-1 in Class A District 1 play. Gehlen Catholic defeated Alta-Aurelia and Sibley-Ocheyedan topped South O’Brien as the winners moved to 2-0 in the District. Alta-Aurelia dropped to 0-2 in District play and South O’Brien is 0-1 after playing its first District contest. Also at 0-1 is Akron-Westfield which lost to non-District opponent Hinton.
The Royals amassed 427 yards from scrimmage compared to 119 for HMS. MMCRU picked off three passes, one of which was returned 100 yards for a touchdown to complete the scoring. A short kick led to the Royals recovering their own kickoff in the second quarter and they also got on the football after the Hawks fumbled a kickoff early in the third quarter.
“They were just crazy physical,” said HMS coach Jeremiah Delzer of the Royals. “Shout out to them because they had a good game plan, they were super physical and they found our weaknesses and just kept exploiting them. We’ve got to find better ways – and it starts with me as coach – to get us in a spot where we can make plays in that spot. We’ve got to get back to the chalkboard a little bit and try to figure things out, watch film review, work on our techniques and fundamentals and we’ll find a way. I don’t think this scoreboard will tell the story. I would say this game was probably a lot more competitive until it got out of hand.”
The Hawks received the opening kickoff and their first possession ended in an interception. MMCRU drove to take a 7-0 lead. The Royals got another pick the next time HMS had the ball. The Hawks nearly got the ball back on a fumble but were able to force a field goal to trail 10-0. MMCRU recovered its kickoff on the Hawk 39. Two plays got the Royals into the end zone for a 17-0 lead. A fumble recovery by Isaac Schierholz just before halftime prevented MMCRU from possibly adding to their lead.
“We talked about (at halftime) you can’t score 17 points in one play,” said Delzer. “It starts with a stop and then we’ve got to continue things. I think we’re close on a lot of different spots. A missed tackle here and a missed assignment there and things like that hurts you and then we play in a certain way and if we can’t execute that way, then we’re going to struggle. So we’ve just got to get back to our fundamentals and techniques. It starts at practice. It starts with me hammering it. We’ve got to stress that this is how we do it and this is how we do it and this is why we do it.”
That defensive stop was not to be as the Royals scored coming out of halftime. The fumbled kickoff return set up yet another score. MMCRU got one more touchdown to lead 37-0 entering the fourth quarter. A fumble recovery by James Gellerman provided the Hawks with a good chance to get on the scoreboard. However, on fourth-and-goal from the five the Royals got the pick six.
Gellerman rushed 17 times for 72 yards and Jack Mastbergen had 10 carries for 32 yards. Mastbergen completed three of 10 passes for 15 yards. Jackson Vogt had two receptions for nine yards and Slayton McCarter one for six yards. Gellerman recorded 10 tackles. Damion Hansen made six stops while Schierholz, Vogt and Mastbergen each had five tackles.
Up Next:
Akron-Westfield pays a visit coming off the loss to Hinton by a score of 47-7. Delzer expects the Hawks to be challenged physically again this Friday. “Akron-Westfield is a well coached team,” he said. “They’re going to come out and they’re going to try to be physical and run the football. It will be a good test with back-to-back weeks where it’s: can we go and be physical and punch them in the mouth like we got punched in the mouth (against MMCRU) and maybe set the tone a little bit.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 20 at Hartley.
HMS 0 0 0 0 – 0
MMCRU 7 10 20 7 – 44
First Quarter
7:07 MMCRU – Gage Johnson 50 yard pass from Eli Harpenau (Johnson kick) 0-7
Second Quarter
10:26 MMCRU – Johnson 26 yard FG 0-10
10:11 MMCRU – Brayson Mulder 2 yard run (Johnson kick) 0-17
Third Quarter
9:50 MMCRU – Johnson 12 yard run (Johnson kick) 0-24
6:39 MMCRU – Mulder 3 yard run (kick failed) 0-30
1:46 MMCRU – Jace Colling 3 yard run (Johnson kick) 0-37
Fourth Quarter
1:55 MMCRU – Johnson 100 yard interception (Johnson kick) 0-44
Rushing: James Gellerman 17-72, Jack Mastbergen 10-32.
Passing: Mastbergen 3-10, 15 yards.
Receiving: Jackson Vogt 2-9, Slayton McCarter 1-6.
Leading Tacklers: Gellerman 10, Damion Hansen 6, Isaac Schierholz, Vogt, Mastbergen 5, Jayden Leth 4, Luke Dagel, Alex Billings 3.
Fumble Recoveries: Schierholz, Gellerman.
Kickoff returns: Gellerman 2-24
Punts: Mastbergen 3-116 (38.7 yd avg.).